Beecher’s Handmade Cheese Is Opening a Factory in Manhattan Because “New Yorkers Are Cheese Crazy”

April 5, 2010

New York has plenty of cheesemongers and cheese eaters, and now it’s going to get a cheese factory, courtesy of the Seattle-based Beecher’s Handmade Cheese. Kurt Dammeier, who opened Beecher’s in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in 2003, told Diner’s Journal that he’s planning to open the factory next February. The space at 900 Broadway will also house a wine bar and cheese caves, and will sell prepared foods like mac and cheese.

According to an earlier article in the Seattle Times, Dammeier first began thinking of opening a factory in New York a couple of years ago, when he was here for a taping of the Martha Stewart Show. The Manhattan factory will function largely as a marketing vehicle, as does the Pike Place store, which is responsible for only about 10 percent of sales; most sales come through grocery stores and specialty markets that stock Beecher’s cheeses.

But if what he told the Seattle Times is any indication, Dammeier, is putting a lot of faith in New York’s love of curds: “New Yorkers are cheese crazy, and New York is just where it all is… If you want to go to the top, that’s where you go. They love cheese in New York. Love, love, love cheese.”

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